


So what do you think, Inspector?

by Shamashe



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: F/M, Grief, Question perspectives, hint at situational humor, solace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-05
Updated: 2016-10-05
Packaged: 2018-08-19 16:52:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8217743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shamashe/pseuds/Shamashe
Summary: Jack addresses the question.





	

**Author's Note:**

> On one over questioned day, this just popped in. It made me think about how Jack maneuvers himself around each person’s dilemma, including his own.

 

“So _what_ do you think, Inspector?”

Jack clenched his jaw to keep his expression neutral. At the same time, he looked up into the sun for a moment before answering.

The angle of the light seemed to illuminate his eyes, causing him to look like he was lit from within. His general demeanor - half serious, half suppressed emotion - combined with his clenched, now even more chiseled jaw, made Bessie take a quick breath and put a hand to her more than ample bosom.

Jack looked back down at the body, moving to cover it with the edge of the spangled costume, which he had to detach from the hinge of the door. To do so, he also had to ease the body completely down to the ground, only inches away.

He looked up at Bessie, still staring at him with a look of fascination and confusion. “I think that there was no foul play here, Bessie. Tessie’s death looks to be an accident. She appears to have become tangled in the strap of her costume when it caught on the door hinge. The exact cause of her death will of course, be determined by the coroner. But I see no need for further investigation here. I do however, offer you my condolences.”

As Jack got up, Bessie burst into tears and started wailing. “Oh, Inspector, I tried to tell her to slow down. I tried to tell her to not run out of the wagon so fast. I had just lent her my new costume top and she grabbed it and threw it over her head while she ran out the door. She almost pulled me out with her because I still had part of it on my arm here. See where it ripped apart? I told her to wait, but she just ran out the door and then fell off those blinking steps there. She’s been in and out of this new wagon a dozen times or more, she’s never fallen before, she was just in such a hurry - she didn’t put it on right-h-h-h-ht!”

Offering the sobbing Bessie his handkerchief, Jack turned to Constable Collins, motioning him to break up the gathering crowd.        

After awhile, with Bessie calmed down and Tessie picked up, Hugh walked over to Jack, notebook in hand. Jack nodded, “Collins?”

“Sir, I just wondered, well, what do _you_ think, Inspector? Have you decided what to list on the report as the probable cause of death?”        

“I believe that she died instantly and accidentally from strangulation, but the coroners report will show the final result.”

“Strang-u-la-tion, got it.” Hugh tucked his notebook away and bent down to pick up a strap of beads that had been attached to the costume. He was holding them vertically when Jack reached out and moved his hands to hold them horizontally, making a snapping motion.

At Hugh’s look, Jack and said dryly, “Snapped her neck, clean as you please, with her own brassiere strap!” Jack turned away with a slight grin as he noticed Hugh blush and hold out the strap, turning it this way and that.

As he turned, he saw a familiar figure walking towards him. He quickly closed the gap between them, causing her to stop a bit more abruptly than she normally would. As she seemed to be teetering slightly, he reached out to hold her steady and was not quite surprised that she leaned into him more than she normally would. She looked up at him and said, “Coming to my rescue, Jack?”

He looked down. “Just lending aide where needed, Miss Fisher.”

“Isn’t it fortunate that you were here.” And in a not so sotto voce voice, said, “To create the need.” As Jack gave her his trademark look, she smiled sweetly at him and disentangled herself.

“And to what do I owe the honor of your presence?”

“Well, I was going to drop in on Bessie, but I see that you beat me to it.”

“You know, Bessie McCarran?”

“Oh yes, Bessie and Tessie go way back.” She hesitated, “Even Jane knew them.” She took a quick breath. “We were quite the mob of sisters back in the day. They would create little skits and we would round up all the other children and play-act them together. She and Tessie were bound for the stage. How do you know them, Jack? Dare I ask?”

“Um, Phryne.” She looked up at him suspiciously. “I didn’t know them. I was called here to investigate an accidental death.”

“Accidental?”

“Phryne, it was Tessie. And yes, it _was_ accidental.”  

Phryne gulped, then said in a small voice. “Does Bessie know?”

“Yes, she knows, she witnessed it. I just finished speaking with her. She’s only just calmed down a bit.”

“How did it happen?”

“Strangulation. It appears that Tessie was putting on a costume top and ran out the door of the wagon so fast that she missed the stairs and caught the strap of the costume on the door hinge. Unfortunately, the other end was around her neck when she fell. It appears that she died instantly.”

“Oh, poor Tessie. She always was in such a rush to get at life.”

“Funny, Bessie said something quite similar to that.”

“I should go to her, Jack.”

“I have no objections. Perhaps you can be of help to her.”

Phryne looked down and shook her head slowly. Jack reached out and lifted her chin. “Will you be alright?”

“I just,” her voice dropped, “I just remember how much Jane liked Tessie. And now there’s only two of us left.”

Uncharacteristically, Phryne turned into Jack. He simply held her as she took a few long, deep, slightly quavery breaths.

After a time, she composed herself, straightened her hat and her gloves and stepped back to face Jack, putting on a carefully neutral face.

“So what do you _think_ , Inspector?”

Jack suppressed a smile. “I think, that you and Bessie are quite a pair. You’re both lucky to have each other.”

Phryne gave Jack a curious look then turned to leave. Turning back, she almost whispered to him, “Thank you, Jack!”  

As he watched her walk away, without her usual saunter, Jack said to himself, “So what _do_ you think, Inspector?”

For the first time that day, he had no easy answer.      


End file.
